"You know him as well as I do. If you like, I will go with you to his quarters, and see what we can do with him."

They at once set out.

"Look here, Antrobus," the doctor said, after asking that officer to come out for a chat with him, "if we don't get some lemon juice, I am afraid it will go very hard with a lot of the children."

"Yes, we have known that for some time, doctor."

"Well, Repton here has made up his mind to try to get out of the place, and make his way to Malaga, and get a boatload of fruit and try to bring it in. Of course he will go dressed as a native, and he speaks Spanish well enough to pass anywhere, without suspicion. So, once beyond the lines, I don't see much difficulty in his making his way to Malaga. Whether he will get back again is another matter, altogether. That is his business. He has plenty of money to purchase the fruit, when he arrives there; and to buy a boat, and all that sort of thing.

"The difficulty is in getting out. Now, nobody is going to know how he does this, except our three selves."

"But why do you come to me, Burke?"

"Because you command the guard, tonight, on the neutral ground. What he proposes is that he should put on a soldier's greatcoat and cap, and take a firelock and, in the dark, fall in with your party. When you get well out on the neutral ground, he could either slip away and take his chance or, what would be better still, he might be in the party you take forward to post as sentries, and you could take him along with you, so that he would go with you as far as the shore; and could then slip away, come back a bit, so as to be out of sight of the farthest sentry, and then take to the water.

"He can swim like a fish, and what current there is will be with him; so that, before it began to be light, he could land two or three miles beyond the Spanish lines. He is going to leave a note behind, for O'Halloran, saying he has left; but no one will know whether he got down at the back of the Rock, or swam across the bay, or how he has gone.

"I have tried to dissuade him; but he has made up his mind to try it and, seeing that--if he succeeds--it may save the lives of scores of children, I really cannot refuse to help him."

"Well, I don't know," Captain Antrobus said. "There certainly does not seem much risk in his going out, as you say. I should get a tremendous wigging, no doubt, if he is discovered, and it was known that I had a hand in it; but I would not mind risking that, for the sake of the children.

"But don't take a firelock, Repton. The sergeants would be sure to notice that there was an extra man. You had better join us, just as we set out. I will say a word or two to you, then do you follow on, in the dark. The men will suppose you are one of the drummers I am taking with me, to serve as a messenger, or something of that sort. That way you can follow close behind me, while I am posting the sentries after leaving the main body at the guardhouse. After posting the last man at the seashore, I can turn off with you for a few yards, as if giving you an order.

"Then I will go back and stay for a time with the last sentry, who will naturally think that the drummer has been sent back to the guardhouse. I will recommend him to be vigilant, and keep by him for some time, till I am pretty sure you have taken to the water and swam past; so that if the sentry should hear a splash, or anything, I can say it can only be a fish; and that, at any rate, it would not do to give an alarm, as it cannot be anything of consequence.

"You see, you don't belong to the garrison, and it is no question of assisting a deserter to escape. Anyhow, I will do it."

Thanking Captain Antrobus greatly, for his promise of assistance, Bob went off into the town; where he bought a suit of Spanish clothes, such as would be appropriate for a small farmer or trader. He then presented his letter of credit at the merchant's, and drew a hundred pounds, which he obtained in Spanish gold. This money and the clothes he put in an oilskin bag, of which the mouth was securely closed. This he left at the doctor's.

As soon as it became dark he went down again. The doctor had a greatcoat and hat in readiness for him--there being plenty of effects of men who had died in the hospital--and as soon as Bob had put them on, walked across--with Bob following him--to the spot where Captain Antrobus' company were falling in. Just as they were about to march, the doctor went up to the captain; who after a word or two with him said to Bob, in a voice loud enough to be heard by the noncommissioned officer, close to him:

"Well, you will keep by me."

The night was a dark one, and the party made their way down to the gate, where the passwords were exchanged; and the company then moved along by the narrow pathway between the artificial inundation and the foot of the Rock. They continued their way until they arrived at the building that served as the main guard of the outlying pickets. Here two-thirds of the company were left; and the captain led the others out, an officer belonging to the regiment whose men he was relieving accompanying him. As the sentries were posted the men relieved fell in, under the orders of their officer and, as soon as the last had been relieved, they marched back to the guardhouse.

A minute later, Captain Antrobus turned to Bob.

"You need not wait," he said. "Go back to the guardhouse. Mind how you go."

Bob saluted and turned off, leaving the officer standing by the sentry. He went some distance back, then walked down the sand to the water's edge, and waded noiselessly into the water. The oilskin bag was, he knew, buoyant enough to give him ample support in the water.

When he was breast deep, he let his uniform cloak slip off his shoulders; allowed his shoes to sink to the bottom, and his three-cornered hat to float away. The doctor had advised him to do this.

"If you leave the things at the edge of the water, Bob, it will be thought that somebody has deserted; and then there will be a lot of questions, and inquiries. You had better take them well out into the sea with you, and then let them go. They will sink, and drift along under water and, if they are ever thrown up, it will be far beyond our lines. In that way, as the whole of the guard will answer to their names, when the roll is called tomorrow, no one will ever give a thought to the drummer who fell in at the last moment; or, if one of them does think of it, he will suppose that the captain sent him into the town, with a report."

The bag would have been a great encumbrance, had Bob wanted to swim fast. As it was, he simply placed his hands upon it, and struck out with his feet, making straight out from the shore. This he did for some ten minutes; and then, being certain that he was far beyond the sight of anyone on shore, he turned and, as nearly as he could, followed the line of the coast. The voices of the sentries calling to each other came across the sea, and he could make out a light or two in the great fort at the water's edge.

It was easy work. The water was, as nearly as possible, the temperature of his body; and he felt that he could remain for any time in it, without inconvenience. The lights in the fort served as a mark by which he could note his progress; and an hour after starting he was well abreast of them, and knew that the current must be helping him more than he had expected it would do.

Another hour, and he began to swim shorewards; as the current might, for aught he knew, be drifting him somewhat out into the bay. When he was able to make out the dark line ahead of him, he again resumed his former course. It was just eight o'clock when the guard had passed through the gate. He had started half an hour later. He swam what seemed to him a very long time, but he had no means of telling how the time passed.

When he thought it must be somewhere about twelve o'clock, he made for the shore. He was sure that, by this time, he must be at least three miles beyond the fort; and as the Spanish camps lay principally near San Roque, at the head of the bay, and there were no tents anywhere by the seashore, he felt sure that he could land, now, without the slightest danger.

Here, then, he waded ashore, stripped, tied his clothes in a bundle, waded a short distance back again, and dropped them in the sea. Then he returned, took up the bag, and carried it up the sandy beach. Opening it, he dressed himself in the complete set of clothes he had brought with him, put on the Spanish shoes and round turned-up hat, placed his money in his pocket; scraped a shallow hole in the sand, put the bag in it and covered it, and then started walking briskly along on the flat ground beyond the sand hills He kept on until he saw the first faint light in the sky; then he sat down among some bushes, until it was light enough for him to distinguish the features of the country.

Inland, the ground rose rapidly into hills--in many places covered with wood--and half an hour's walking took him to one of these. Looking back, he could see the Rock rising, as he judged, from twelve to fourteen miles away. He soon found a place with some thick undergrowth and, entering this, lay down and was soon sound asleep.

When he woke it was already late in the afternoon. He had brought with him, in the bag, some biscuits and hardboiled eggs; and of a portion of these he made a hearty meal. Then he pushed up over the hill until, after an hour's walking, he saw a road before him. This was all he wanted, and he sat down and waited until it became dark. A battalion of infantry passed along as he sat there, marching towards Gibraltar. Two or three long lines of laden carts passed by, in the same direction.

He had consulted a map before starting, and knew that the distance to Malaga was more than twenty leagues; and that the first place of any importance was Estepona, about eight leagues from Gibraltar, and that before the siege a large proportion of the supplies of fruit and vegetables were brought to Gibraltar from this town. Starting as soon as it became dark, he passed through Estepona at about ten o'clock; looked in at a wine shop, and sat down to a pint of wine and some bread; and then continued his journey until, taking it quietly, he was in sight of Marbella.

He slept in a grove of trees until daylight, and then entered the town, which was charmingly situated among orange groves. Going into a fonda--or tavern--he called for breakfast. When he had eaten this, he leisurely strolled down to the port and, taking his seat on a block of stone, on the pier, watched the boats. As, while walking down from the fonda, he had passed several shops with oranges and lemons, it seemed to him that it would in some respects be better for him to get the fruit here, instead of going on to Malaga.

In the first place, the distance to return was but half that from Malaga; and in the second it would probably be easier to get out, from a quiet little port like this, than from a large town like Malaga. The question which puzzled him was how was he to get his oranges on board. Where could he reasonably be going to take them?

Presently, a sailor came up and began to chat with him.

"Are you wanting a boat, senor?"

"I have not made up my mind, yet," he said. "I suppose you are busy here, now?"

"No, the times are dull. Usually we do a good deal of trade with Gibraltar but, at present, that is all stopped. It is hard on us but, when we turn out the English hereticos, I hope we shall have better times than ever. But who can say? They have plenty of money, the English; and are ready to pay good prices for everything."

"But I suppose you take things to our camp?"

The fisherman shook his head.

"They get their supplies direct from Malaga, by sea. There are many carts go through here, of course; but the roads are heavy, and it is cheaper to send things by water. If our camp had been on the seashore, instead of at San Roque, we might have taken fish and fruit to them; but it is a long way across and, of course, in small boats we cannot go round the great Rock, and run the risk of being shot at or taken prisoners.

"No; there is nothing for us to do here, now, but to carry what fish and fruit we do not want at Marbella across to Malaga; and we get poor prices, there, to what we used to get at Gibraltar; and no chance of turning an honest penny by smuggling away a few pounds of tobacco, as we come back. There was as much profit, in that, as there was in the sale of the goods; but one had to be very sharp, for they were always suspicious of boats coming back from there, and used to search us so that you would think one could not bring so much as a cigar on shore. But you know, there are ways of managing things.

"Are you thinking of going across to Malaga, senor?"

"Well, I have a little business there. I want to see how the new wines are selling; and whether it will be better for me to sell mine, now, or to keep them in my cellars for a few months. I am in no hurry. Tomorrow is as good as today. If there had been a boat going across, I might have taken a passage that way, instead of riding."

"I don't know, senor. There was a man asking, an hour ago, if anyone was going. He was wanting to take a few boxes of fruit across, but he did not care about hiring my boat for himself. That, you see, was reasonable enough; but if the senor wished to go, too, it might be managed if you took the boat between you. I would carry you cheaply, if you would be willing to wait for an hour or two; so that I could go round to the other fishermen, and get a few dozen fish from one and a few dozen from another, to sell for them over there. That is the way we manage."

"I could not very well go until the afternoon," Bob said.

"If you do not go until the afternoon, senor, it would be as well not to start until evening. The wind is very light, and we should have to row. If you start in the afternoon, we should get to Malaga at two or three o'clock in the morning, when everyone was asleep; but if you were to start in the evening, we should be in in reasonable time, just as the people were coming into the markets. That would suit us for the sale of our fish, and the man with his fruit. The nights are warm and, with a cloak and an old sail to keep off the night dew, the voyage would be more pleasant than in the heat of the day."

"That would do for me, very well," Bob said. "Nothing could be better. What charge would you make, for taking me across and bringing me back, tomorrow?"

"At what time would you want to return, senor?"

"It would matter little. I should be done with my business by noon, but I should be in no hurry. I could wait until evening, if that would suit you better."

"And we might bring other passengers back, and any cargo we might pick up?"

"Yes, so that you do not fill the boat so full that there would be no room for me to stretch my legs."

"Would the senor think four dollars too much? There will be my brother and myself, and it will be a long row."

"It is dear," Bob said, decidedly; "but I will give you three dollars and, if everything passes to my satisfaction, maybe I will make up the other dollar."

"Agreed, senor. I will see if I can find the man who was here, asking for a boat for his fruit."

"I will come back in an hour, and see," Bob said, getting up and walking leisurely away.

The fisherman was waiting for him.

"I can't find the man, senor, though I have searched all through the town. He must have gone off to his farm again."

"That is bad. How much did you reckon upon making from him?"

"I should have got another three dollars from him."

"Well, I tell you what," Bob said; "I have a good many friends, and people are always pleased with a present from the country. A box of fruit from Marbella is always welcome, for their flavour is considered excellent. It is well to throw a little fish, to catch a big one; and a present is like oil on the wheels of business. How many boxes of fruit will your boat carry? I suppose you could take twenty, and still have room to row?"

"Thirty, sir; that is the boat," and he pointed to one moored against the quay.

She was about twenty feet long, with a mast carrying a good-sized sail.

"Very well, then. I will hire the boat for myself. I will give you six dollars, and another dollar for drink money, if all goes pleasantly. You must be ready to come back, tomorrow evening; or the first thing next morning, if it should suit you to stay till then. You can carry what fish you can get to Malaga, and may take in a return cargo if you can get one. That will be extra profit for yourselves. But you and your brother must agree to carry down the boxes of fruit, and put them on board here. I am not going to pay porters for that.

"At what time will you start?"

"Shall we say six o'clock, senor?"

"That will suit me very well. You can come up with me, now, and bring the fruit down, and put it on board; or I will be down here at five o'clock, and you can go up and get it, then."

The man thought for a moment.

"I would rather do it now, senor, if it makes no difference to you. Then we can have our evening meals at home with our families, and come straight down here, and start."

"Very well; fetch your brother, and we will set about the matter at once; as I have to go out to my farm and make some arrangements, and tell them they may not see me again for three days."

In two or three minutes the fisherman came back, with his brother. Bob went with them to a trader in fruit, and bought twenty boxes of lemons and ten of oranges, and saw them carried down and put on board. Then he handed a dollar to the boatman.

"Get a loaf of white bread, and a nice piece of cooked meat, and a couple of bottles of good wine, and put them on board. We shall be hungry, before morning. I will be here at a few minutes before six."

Highly satisfied with the good fortune that had enabled him to get the fruit on board without the slightest difficulty, Bob returned into the town. It was but eleven o'clock now so--having had but a short sleep the night before, and no prospect of sleep the next night--he walked a mile along the road by the sea, then turned off among the sand hills and slept, till four in the afternoon; after which he returned to Marbella, and partook of a hearty meal.

Having finished this he strolled out, and was not long in discovering a shop where arms were sold. Here he bought a brace of long, heavy pistols, and two smaller ones; with powder and bullets, and also a long knife. They were all made into a parcel together and, on leaving the shop, he bought a small bag. Then he went a short distance out of the town again, carefully loaded the four pistols, and placed them and the knife in the bag.

As he went back, the thought struck him that the voyage might probably last longer than they expected and, buying a basket, he stored it with another piece of meat, three loaves, and two more bottles of wine, and gave it to a boy to carry down to the boat.

It was a few minutes before six when he got there. The two sailors were standing by the boat, and a considerable pile of fish in the bow showed that they had been successful in getting a consignment from the other fishermen of the port. They looked surprised at the second supply of provisions.

"Why, senor, we have got the things you ordered."

"Yes, yes, I do not doubt that; but I have heard, before now, of headwinds springing up, and boats not being able to make their passage, and being blown off land; and I am not fond of fasting. I daresay you won't mind eating, tomorrow, anything that is not consumed by the time we reach port."

"We will undertake that, senor," the man said, laughing, highly satisfied at the liberality of their employer.

"Is there wind enough for the sail?" Bob asked, as he stepped into the stern of the boat.

"It is very light, senor, but I daresay it will help us a bit. We shall get out the oars."

"I will take the helm, if you sail," Bob said. "You can tell me which side to push it. It will be an amusement, and keep me awake."

The sun was just setting, as they started. There was scarcely a breath of wind. The light breeze that had been blowing, during the day, had dropped with the sun; and the evening breeze had not yet sprung up. The two fishermen rowed, and the boat went slowly through the water; for the men knew that they had a long row before them, and were by no means inclined to exert themselves--especially as they hoped that, in a short time, they would get wind enough to take them on their way, without the oars.

Bob chatted with them until it became dark. As soon as he was perfectly sure that the boat could not be seen from the land, he quietly opened his bag, and changed the conversation.

"My men," he said, "I wonder that you are content with earning small wages, here, when you could get a lot of money by making a trip, occasionally, round to Gibraltar with fruit. It would be quite easy; for you could keep well out from the coast till it became dark, and then row in close under the Rock; and keep along round the Point, and into the town, without the least risk of being seen by any of our cruisers. You talked about making money by smuggling in tobacco from there, but that is nothing to what you could get by taking fruit into Gibraltar. These oranges cost a dollar and a half, a box; and they would fetch ten dollars a box, easily, there. Indeed, I think they would fetch twenty dollars a box. Why, that would give a profit, on the thirty boxes, of six or seven hundred dollars. Just think of that!"

"Would they give such a price as that?" the men said, in surprise.

"They would. They are suffering from want of fresh meat, and there is illness among them; and oranges and lemons are the things to cure them. It is all very well for men to suffer, but no one wants women and children to do so; and it would be the act of good Christians to relieve them, besides making as much money, in one little short trip, as you would make in a year's work."

"That is true," the men said, "but we might be sunk by the guns, going there; and we should certainly be hung, when we got back, if they found out where we had been."

"Why should they find out?" Bob asked. "You would put out directly it got dark, and row round close under the Rock, and then make out to sea; and in the morning you would be somewhere off Marbella, but eight or ten miles out, with your fishing nets down; and who is to know that you have been to Gibraltar?"

The men were silent. The prospect certainly seemed a tempting one. Bob allowed them to turn it over in their minds for a few minutes, and then spoke again.

"Now, my men, I will speak to you frankly. It is just this business that I am bent upon, now. I have come out from Gibraltar to do a little trade in fruit. It is sad to see women and children suffering; and there is, as I told you, lots of money to be made out of it. Now, I will make you a fair offer. You put the boat's head round, now, and sail for Gibraltar. If the wind helps us a bit, we shall be off the Rock by daylight. When we get there, I will give you a hundred dollars, apiece."

"It is too much risk," one of the men said, after a long pause.

"There is no risk at all," Bob said, firmly. "You will get in there tomorrow, and you can start again, as soon as it becomes dark; and in the morning you will be able to sail into Marbella, and who is to know that you haven't been across to Malaga, as you intended?

"I tell you what, I will give you another fifty dollars for your fish; or you can sell them there, yourselves--they will fetch you quite that."

The men still hesitated, and spoke together in a low voice.

"Look here, men," Bob said, as he took the two heavy pistols from his bag, "I have come out from the Rock to do this, and I am going to do it. The question is, 'Which do you choose--to earn two hundred and fifty dollars for a couple of days' work, or to be shot and thrown overboard?' This boat is going there, whether you go in her or not. I don't want to hurt you--I would rather pay the two hundred and fifty dollars--but that fruit may save the lives of many women, and little children, and I am bound to do it.

"You can make another trip or not, just as you please. Now, I think you will be very foolish, if you don't agree; for you will make three times as much as I offer you, every thirty boxes of fruit that you can take in there; but the boat has got to go there now, and you have got to take your choice whether you go in her, or not."

"How do we know that you will pay us the money, when we get there?" one of the Spaniards asked.

Bob put his hand into his pocket.

"There," he said. "There are twenty gold pieces, that is, a hundred dollars. That is a proof I mean what I say. Put them into your pockets. You shall have the rest, when you get there. But mind, no nonsense; no attempts at treachery. If I see the smallest sign of that, I will shoot you down without hesitation.

"Now, row, and I'll put her head round."

The men said a few words in an undertone to each other.

"You guarantee that no harm shall come to us at Gibraltar, and that we shall be allowed to leave again?"

"Yes, I promise you that, faithfully.

"Now, you have got to row a good bit harder than you have been rowing, up till now. We must be past Fort Santa Barbara before daylight."

The boat's head was round, by this time, and the men began to row steadily. At present, they hardly knew whether they were satisfied, or not. Two hundred and fifty dollars was, to them, an enormous sum; but the risk was great. It was not that they feared that any suspicion would fall upon them, on their return. They had often smuggled tobacco from Gibraltar, and had no high opinion of the acuteness of the authorities. What really alarmed them was the fear of being sunk, either by the Spanish or British guns. However, they saw that, for the present at any rate, they had no option but to obey the orders of a passenger possessed of such powerful arguments as those he held in his hands.

Chapter 14: A Welcome Cargo.

After the men had been rowing for an hour, Bob felt a slight breeze springing up from off the land, and said:

"You may as well get up the sail. It will help you along a bit."

The sail was a large one, for the size of the boat; and Bob felt a distinct increase in her pace, as soon as the men began to row again. He could make out the line of the hills against the sky; and had, therefore, no difficulty in keeping the course. They were soon back opposite Marbella, the lights of which he could clearly make out. Little by little the breeze gathered strength, and the rowers had comparatively easy work of it, as the boat slipped away lightly before the wind.

"What do you make it--twelve leagues from Marbella to the Rock?"

"About that," the man replied. "If the wind holds like this, we shall not be very far from the Rock by daylight. We are going along about a league an hour."

"Well, stretch out to it, lads, for your own sakes. I have no fear of a shot from Santa Barbara. The only thing I am afraid of is that we should be seen by any Spanish boats that may be cruising round that side, before we get under shelter of the guns of the Rock."

The fishermen needed no warning as to the danger of being caught, and bent again more strongly to their oars. After they had rowed two hours longer, Bob told them to pull the oars in.

"You had better have a quarter of an hour's rest, and some supper and a bottle of wine," he said. "You have got your own basket, forward. I will take mine out of this by my side."

As their passenger had paid for it, the boatmen had got a very superior wine to that they ordinarily drank. After eating their supper--bread, meat, and onions--and drinking half a bottle of wine, each, they were disposed to look at the situation in a more cheerful light. Two hundred and fifty dollars was certainly well worth running a little risk for. Why, it would make them independent of bad weather; and they would be able to freight their boat themselves, with fish or fruit, and to trade on their own account.

They were surprised at the enterprise of this young trader, whom they supposed to be a native of Gibraltar; for Bob thought that it was as well that they should remain in ignorance of his nationality, as they might have felt more strongly that they were rendering assistance to the enemy, did they know that he was English.

Hour after hour passed. The wind did not increase in force nor, on the other hand, did it die away. There was just enough to keep the sail full, and take much of the weight of the boat off the arms of the rowers. The men, knowing the outline of the hills, were able to tell what progress they were making; and told Bob when they were passing Estepona. Two or three times there was a short pause, for the men to have a draught of wine. With that exception, they rowed on steadily.

"It will be a near thing, senor," one of them said, towards morning. "The current counts for three or four miles against us. If it hadn't been for that, we should certainly have done it. As it is, it is doubtful."

"I think we are about a mile off shore, are we not?" Bob asked. "That is about the distance I want to keep. If there are any cruisers, they are sure to be further out than that; and as for Santa Barbara, if they see us and take the trouble to fire at us, there is not much chance of their hitting such a mark as this, a mile away. Besides, almost all their guns are on the land side."

The men made no reply. To them, the thought of being fired at by big guns was much more alarming than that of being picked up by a cruiser of their own nation; although they saw there might be a good deal of difficulty in persuading the authorities that they had taken part, perforce, in the attempt to get fruit into the beleaguered garrison. Daylight was just beginning to break, when one of the fishermen pointed out a dark mass inshore, but somewhat ahead of them.

"That is Santa Barbara," he said.

They had already, for some time, made out the outline of the Rock; and Bob gazed anxiously seaward but could, as yet, see no signs of the enemy's cruisers.

"Row away, lads," he said. "They won't see us for some time and, in another half hour, we shall be safe."

The Spaniards bent to their oars with all their strength, now; from time to time looking anxiously over their shoulders at the fort. Rapidly the daylight stole across the sky, and they were just opposite Santa Barbara when a gun boomed out, and a shot flew over their heads and struck the water, a quarter of a mile beyond them. With a yell of fear, the two Spaniards threw themselves at the bottom of the boat.

"Get up, you fools!" Bob shouted. "You will be no safer, down there, than if you were rowing. If a shot strikes her she will be smashed up, whether you are rowing or lying down. If you stay there, it will be an hour before we get out of range of their guns while, if you row like men, we shall get further and further away every minute, and be safe in a quarter of an hour."

It was only, however, after he threatened to shoot them, if they did not set to work again, that the Spaniards resumed their oars; but when they did they rowed desperately. Another shot from the fort struck the water a short distance astern, exciting a fresh yell of agony from the men.

"There, you see," Bob said; "if you hadn't been sending her faster through the water, that would have hit us.

"Ah! They are beginning from that sloop, out at sea."

This was a small craft that Bob had made out, as the light increased, a mile and a half seaward. She had changed her course, and was heading in their direction.

Retaining his hold of his pistols Bob moved forward, put out a spare oar, and set to to row. Shot after shot came from the fort, and several from the sloop; but a boat, at that distance, presents but a small mark and, although a shot went through the sail, none struck her. Presently a gun boomed out ahead of them, high in the air; and a shot fell near the sloop, which at once hauled her wind, and stood out to sea.

"We have got rid of her," Bob said, "and we are a mile and a half from the fort, now. You can take it easy, men. They won't waste many more shot upon us."

Indeed, only one more gun was fired by the Spaniards; and then the boat pursued her course unmolested, Bob returning to his seat at the helm.

"They will be on the lookout for us, as we go back," one of the Spaniards said.

"They won't see you in the dark," Bob replied. "Besides, as likely as not they will think that you are one of the Rock fishing boats, that has ventured out too far, and failed to get back by daylight."

Once out of reach of the shot from the fort, the sailors laid in their oars--having been rowing for more than ten hours--and the boat glided along quietly, at a distance of a few hundred feet from the foot of the cliff.

"Which are you going to do?" Bob asked them; "take fifty dollars for your fish, or sell them for what you can get for them?"

The fishermen at once said they would take the fifty dollars for, although they had collected all that had been brought in by the other fishermen--amounting to some five hundred pounds in weight--they could not imagine that fish, for which they would not have got more than ten dollars--at the outside--at Malaga, could sell for fifty at Gibraltar.

As they rounded Europa Point there was a hail from above and, looking up, Bob saw Captain O'Halloran and the doctor.

"Hulloa, Bob!"

"Hulloa!" Bob shouted back, and waved his hat.

"All right, Bob?"

"All right. I have got thirty boxes!"

"Hurrah!" the doctor shouted, waving his hat over his head. "We will meet you at the New Mole.

"That is something like a boy, Gerald!"

"It is all very well for you," Captain O'Halloran said. "You are not responsible for him, and you are not married to his sister."

"Put yourself in the way of a cannonball, Gerald, and I will be married to her a week after--if she will have me."

His companion laughed.

"It is all very well, Teddy; but it is just as well, for you, that you did not show your face up at the house during the last three days. It is not Bob who has been blamed. It has been entirely you and me, especially you. The moment she read his letter, she said at once that you were at the bottom of it, and that it never would have entered Bob's mind to do such a mad thing, if you had not put him up to it; and of course, when I came back from seeing you, and said that you admitted that you knew what he was doing, it made the case infinitely worse. It will be a long time before she takes you into favour again."

"About an hour," the doctor said, calmly. "As soon as she finds that Bob has come back again, with the fruit; and that he has as good as saved the lives of scores of women and children; she will be so proud of him that she will greet me as part author of the credit he has gained--though really, as I told you, I had nothing to do with it except that, when I saw that Bob had made up his mind to try, whether I helped him or not, I thought it best to help him, as far as I could, to get away.

"Now, we must get some porters to carry the boxes up to your house, or wherever he wants them sent.

"Ah! Here is the governor. He will be pleased to hear that Bob has got safely back."

Captain O'Halloran had, when he found Bob's letter in his room on the morning after he had left, felt it his duty to go to the town major's office to mention his absence; and it had been reported to the general, who had sent for Gerald to inquire about the circumstances of the lad's leaving. Captain O'Halloran had assured him that he knew nothing, whatever, of his intention; and that it was only when he found the letter on his table, saying that he had made up his mind to get beyond the Spanish lines, somehow, and to bring in a boatload of oranges, for the use of the women and children who were suffering from scurvy, that he knew his brother-in-law had any such idea in his mind.

"It is a very gallant attempt, Captain O'Halloran--although, of course, I should not have permitted it to be made, had I been aware of his intentions."

"Nor should I, sir," Captain O'Halloran said. "My wife is, naturally, very much upset."

"That is natural enough," the governor said. "Still, she has every reason to be proud of her brother. A man could risk his life for no higher object than that for which Mr. Repton has undertaken this expedition.

"How do you suppose he got away?"

"I have no idea, sir. He may have got down by ropes, from the back of the Rock--the way the deserters generally choose."

"Yes; but if he got down without breaking his neck, he would still have to pass our line of sentries, and also through the Spaniards."

"He is a very good swimmer, general; and may have struck out, and landed beyond the Spanish forts. Of course, he may have started from the Old Mole, and swam across to the head of the bay. He is sure to have thought the matter well out. He is very sharp and, if anyone could get through, I should say Bob could. He speaks the language like a native."

"I have heard of him before," the governor said, smiling. "Captain Langton told us of the boy's doings, when he was away in that privateer brig; and how he took in the frigate, and was the means of the brig capturing those two valuable prizes, and how he had swam on board a Spanish sloop of war. He said that no officer could have shown greater pluck, and coolness.

"I sincerely hope that no harm will come to him; but how--even if he succeeds in getting through the Spanish lines--he can manage, single handed, to get back here in a boat, is more than I can see. Well, I sincerely trust that no harm will come to him."

As the governor, with two or three of his staff, now came along, Captain O'Halloran went up to him.

"I am glad to say, sir," he said, "that young Repton has just returned, and that he has brought in thirty cases of fruit."

"I am extremely glad to hear it, Captain O'Halloran," the governor said, warmly. "When it was reported to me, an hour since, that the Spanish fort and one of their cruisers were firing at a small boat, that was making her way in from the east, the thought struck me that it might be your brother-in-law.

"Where is he?"

"He is just coming round to the Mole, sir. Doctor Burke and myself are going to meet him."

"I will go down with you," the governor said. "Those oranges are worth a thousand pounds a box, to the sick."

The party reached the Mole before the boat came in; for after rounding the Point she had been becalmed, and the fishermen had lowered the sail and betaken themselves to their oars again. Bob felt a little uncomfortable when, as the boat rowed up to the landing stairs, he saw General Eliott, with a group of officers, standing at the top. He was relieved when, on ascending the steps, the governor stepped forward and shook him warmly by the hand.

"I ought to begin by scolding you, for breaking out of the fortress without leave; but I am too pleased with the success of your venture, and too much gratified at the spirit that prompted you to undertake it, to say a word. Captain O'Halloran tells me that you have brought in thirty cases of fruit."

"Yes, sir. I have ten cases of oranges, and twenty of lemons. I propose, with your permission, to send half of these up to the hospitals, for the use of the sick there. The others I intend for the use of the women and children of the garrison, and townspeople. Doctor Burke will see for me that they are distributed where they will do most good."

"Well, my lad, I thank you most cordially for your noble gift to the troops; and there is not a man here who will not feel grateful to you, for the relief it will afford to the women and children. I shall be very glad if you will dine with me, today; and you can then tell me how you have managed what I thought, when I first heard of your absence, was a sheer impossibility.

"Captain O'Halloran, I trust that you and Mrs. O'Halloran will also give me the pleasure of your company, at dinner, today."

"If you please, sir," Bob said, "will you give these two boatmen a pass, permitting them to go out after dark, tonight. I promised them that they should not be detained. It is of the greatest importance to them that they should get back before their absence is discovered."

"Certainly," the governor said; and at once ordered one of the officers of the staff to see that the pass was given; and orders issued, to the officers of the batteries, to allow the boat to pass out in the dark, unquestioned.

As soon as the governor walked away, with his staff, Bob was heartily greeted by Captain O'Halloran and the doctor.

"You have given us a fine fright, Bob," the former said, "and your sister has been in a desperate way about you. However, now that you have come back safe, I suppose she will forgive you.

"But what about all those fish? Are they yours? Why, there must be half a ton of them!"

"No; the men say there are five or six hundred pounds.

"Yes, they are mine. I thought of keeping a few for ourselves, and dividing the rest between the ten regiments; and sending them up, with your compliments, to their messes."

"Not with my compliments, Bob; that would be ridiculous. Send them up with your own compliments. It will be a mighty acceptable present. But you had better pick out two or three of the finest fish, and send them up to the governor.

"Now then, let us set to work. Here are plenty of porters but, first of all, we had better get ten men from the officer of the guard here; and send one off, with each of the porters with the fish, to the regiments--or the chances are that these baskets will be a good bit lighter, by the time they arrive there, than when they start. I will go and ask the officer; while you are getting the fish up here, and divided."

In a quarter of an hour the ten porters started, each with about half a hundredweight, and under the charge of a soldier. The doctor took charge of the porters with the fifteen boxes of fruit, for the various hospitals; and then--after Bob had paid the boatmen the two hundred and fifty dollars due to them, and had told them they would get the permit to enable them to sail again, as soon as it became dark--he and Captain O'Halloran started for the house, with the men in charge of the other fifteen boxes, and with one carrying the remaining fish--which weighed about the same as the other parcels.

"How did you and the doctor happen to be at Europa Point, Gerald?" Bob asked, as they went along.

"The doctor said he felt sure that whenever you did come--that is, if you came at all--you would get here somewhere about daylight; and he arranged with the officer in charge of the upper battery to send a man down, with the news, if there was a boat in sight. Directly he heard that the Spaniards were firing at a boat, he came over and called me; and we went round to the back of the Rock. We couldn't be sure that it was you from that height but, as we could make out the boxes, we thought it must be you; and so walked down to the Point, to catch you there."

"Does Carrie know that a boat was in sight?"

"No, I wouldn't say anything to her about it. She had only just dropped off to sleep, when I was called. She woke up, and asked what it was; but I said that I supposed I was wanted on duty, and she went off again before I was dressed. I was glad she did, for she hadn't closed her eyes before, since you started."

Carrie was on the terrace when she saw Bob and Gerald, followed by a procession of porters, coming up the hill. With a cry of joy she ran down into the house, and out to meet them.

"You bad boy!" she cried, as she threw her arms round Bob's neck. "How could you frighten us so? It is very cruel and wicked of you, Bob, and I am not going to forgive you; though I can't help being glad to see you, which is more than you deserve."

"You mustn't scold him, Carrie," her husband said. "Even the governor didn't scold him; and he has thanked him, in the name of the whole garrison, and he has asked him to dine with him; and you and I are to dine there too, Carrie. There is an honour for you! But what is better than honour is that there isn't a woman and child on the Rock who won't be feeling deeply grateful to Bob, before the day is over."

"Has he really got some fruit?"

"Yes. Don't you see the boxes, Carrie?"

"Oh, I saw something coming along, but I didn't see anything clearly but Bob. What are these boxes--oranges?"

"Oranges and lemons--five of oranges and ten of lemons--and there are as many more that have gone up to the hospital, for the use of the men.

"There, let us see them taken into the storeroom. You can open two of them at once, and send Manola off with a big basket; and tell her to give half a dozen of each, with your love, to each of the ladies you know. The doctor will take charge of the rest, and see about their division among all the women on the Rock. It will be quite a business, but he won't mind it."

"What is all this--fish?"

"Well, my dear, you are to take as much as you want; and you are to pick out two or three of the best, and send them to the governor, with your compliments; and the rest you can divide and send out, with the fruit, to your special friends."

"But how has Bob done it?" Carrie asked, quite overwhelmed at the sight of all those welcome stores.

"Ah, that he must tell you, himself. I have no more idea than the man in the moon."

"It has all been quite simple," Bob said. "But see about sending these things off first, Carrie. Doctor Burke will be here, after he has seen the others taken safely to the hospital; and I shall have to tell it all over again, then."

"I am very angry with the doctor," Mrs. O'Halloran said.

"Then the sooner you get over being angry, the better, Carrie. The doctor had nothing whatever to do with my going; but when he saw that I had made up my mind to go, he helped me, and I am extremely obliged to him. Now, you may have an orange for yourself, if you are good."

"That I won't," Carrie said. "Thanks to our eggs and vegetables we are perfectly well and, when there are so many people really in want of the oranges, it would be downright wicked to eat them merely because we like them."

In a short time Manola--with two of the children from downstairs, carrying baskets--started, with the presents of fruit and fish, to all the ladies of Carrie's acquaintance. Soon after she had left, Doctor Burke arrived.

"I was not going to speak to you, Teddy Burke," Mrs. O'Halloran said, shaking her head at him. "I had lost confidence in you; but with Bob back again, and all this fruit for the poor creatures who want it, I will forgive you."

"I am glad you have grace enough for that, Mrs. O'Halloran. It is down on your knees you ought to go, to thank me, if I had my rights. Isn't Bob a hero? And hasn't he received the thanks of the governor? And hasn't he saved scores of lives, this blessed day? And although it is little enough I had to do with it, isn't it the thanks of the whole garrison ought to be given me, for even the little bit of a share I had in it?"

"We have been waiting for you to come, Teddy," Captain O'Halloran said, "to hear Bob's story."

"Well then, you will have to wait a bit longer," the doctor said. "I have sent orderlies from the hospital to all the regiments--including, of course, the Artillery and Engineers--asking them to send me lists of the numbers of the women and children of the noncommissioned officers and privates, and also of officers' wives and families; and to send with the lists, here, two orderlies from each regiment, with baskets. I have been down to the town major, and got a list of the number of women and children in the town. When we get the returns from the regiments, we will reckon up the totals; and see how many there will be, for each. I think that each of the boxes holds about five hundred."

The work of counting out the oranges and lemons for the various regiments, and the townspeople, occupied some time; and it was not until the orderlies had started, with their supplies, that Bob sat down to tell his story.

"Nothing could have been easier," he said, when he finished.

"It was easy enough, as you say, Bob," the doctor said; "but it required a lot of coolness, and presence of mind. Events certainly turned out fortunately for you, but you took advantage of them. That is always the point. Nobody could have done it better, and most people would have done worse. I have been wondering myself a great deal, since you have been gone, what plan you could possibly hit on to get the oranges into a boat; and how, when you had got them in, you would manage to get them here. It seems all easy enough, now you have done it; but that is all the more creditable to you, for hitting on a plan that worked so well."

Similar praise was given to Bob when he had again to tell his story, at the governor's.

"So you managed, you say, to slip out with the reliefs?" the governor said.

"Yes, sir. I had got a military cloak, and hat."

"Still, it is curious that they did not notice an addition to their party. I fancy you must have had a friend there?"

"That, general, is a point that I would rather not say anything about. That is the way that I did go out and, when I took to the water, I let the coat and hat float away for, had they been found, it might have been supposed that somebody had deserted."

"I wish you could have brought in a shipload, instead of a boatload, of fruit, Mr. Repton. They will be of immense benefit to the sick but, unfortunately, there is scarcely a person on the Rock that is not more or less affected and, if your thirty boxes were multiplied by a hundred, it would be none too much for our needs."

The oranges and lemons did, however, for a time have a marked effect in checking the progress of the scurvy--especially among the children, who came in for a larger share than that which fell to the sick soldiers--but in another month the condition of those in hospital, and indeed of many who still managed to do duty, was again pitiable.

On the 11th of October, however, some of the boats of the fleet went out, during a fog, and boarded a Danish craft from Malaga--laden with oranges and lemons--and brought her in. The cargo was at once bought by the governor, and distributed.

The beneficial effects were immediate. Cases which had, but a few days before, appeared hopeless were cured, as if by magic; and the health of the whole garrison was reestablished. Heavy rains setting in at the same time, the gardens--upon which, for months, great attention had been bestowed--came rapidly into bearing and, henceforth, throughout the siege the supply of vegetables, if not ample for the needs of the garrison and inhabitants, was sufficient to prevent scurvy from getting any strong hold again.

A few days after the ship with oranges was brought in, an orderly came in to Captain O'Halloran with a message that the governor wished to speak to Mr. Repton. Bob was out at the time, but went up to the castle as soon as he returned, and was at once shown in to the governor.